The surprising thing about the Experian statistics is that 73% of consumers had outstanding debt when they were reported as dead. Those people carried an average total balance of $61,554, including mortgage debt (without a mortgage outstanding, the average balance was still $12,875). The Experian database includes 220 million consumers (the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau statistic shows there are 242 million adults living in the country).

Experian breaks down the consumer debt as follows:

• 68% had unpaid credit card balances averaging $4,531
• 37% had mortgage debt with an average balance of $48,679
• 25% had auto loans with an average balance of $17,111
• 12% had personal loans with a balance of $14,793
• 6% had student loans with a balance of $25,391

These statistics are pretty sobering too, but the good news, if it can be called that, is that family members are not usually responsible for paying these debts (unless they co-signed for a student loan). Generally, but not in all cases, debt dies with an individual, although in some cases the assets in their estate will be used to pay off the debts before any distribution to those who inherit the remaining assets.

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

Now you would think that people would prepare for this, but no, it seems that the majority of Americans do not even have a will. A 2015 poll conducted by Harris Poll for Rocket Lawyer showed that fully 64% of those surveyed didn’t have a will, and a different survey by Lexis Nexus showed that 55% of American adults do not have a will or estate plan! This makes it very stressful for the family, and the last thing they need is to worry about how they are going to pay the bill for the funeral.

And these statistics become very real for the family members when it comes time to pay for funeral costs because they are not something that can be put off for another time, like buying a new car or getting your teeth fixed. They have to be done right now.

The Median Cost of a Funeral

A 2012 survey from the National Funeral Directors Association shows that the median cost of a funeral is $7,045, and the median cost with vault (typically required by the cemetery) is $8,343. These expenses do not include the cost of a plot or a gravestone either, which could bump the price by another few thousand dollars.

Editor Sara J. Marsden of US Funerals Online says that funeral homes typically ask for a cash advance up front when negotiating a funeral contract. This is to cover out of pocket expenses paid to third parties such as permits, flowers, cemetery fees, etc. She adds that most of the time the funeral is paid by check or sometimes cash. She states that borrowing money to pay for the cost of a funeral is generally not a good idea, but that there are some lenders who will loan funds (typically $1k-15k) for up to 36 months at a 15% interest rate.

You might find this surprising, but just as is the case with car dealers, funeral directors often try to “upsell” the consumer on additional services. These services, such as a custom casket, can be very expensive. The surviving family members are usually in a very overwrought state and may not be thinking clearly at a time like this. It is important to remember that this is a consumer transaction and it is perfectly okay to negotiate with the funeral director, just as you would at a car dealer.

The CrossCheck Solution

How does CrossCheck help in this situation? Funeral homes are one of our core businesses, and we have been serving them for over three decades. It should be obvious that most American families do not have seven or eight thousand dollars in liquid assets to spend for a funeral. But we have found that if we give the consumer 30 extra days to pay for funerals, they can generally come up with the money. They just cannot do it today. Since most Americans haven’t even written a will, it is a pretty good bet that they don’t have burial insurance or even life insurance, and the social security death benefit is only $255, which will barely pay for the flowers.

We charge the funeral home a modest fee, typically about a third of what they would pay to take a credit card transaction. We ask the consumer to write up to four checks and to tell us when they would like these checks to be deposited in the future. We provide an imager to the funeral home, so they can run the checks through the imager and get an authorization from us. We print a receipt and void the checks and they are returned to the check-writer on the spot. The imager prints a receipt for the transaction. That’s all there is to it.

We clear the checks electronically for the funeral home, so they do not need to go to the bank or try to remember when to deposit the checks. Their depository account is fully funded, even if one of the checks bounces. They never see a return item. We take care of everything. You could say we give a certain “finality” to this experience.

This solution is CrossCheck’s Multiple Check service. While our primary customer is the funeral home, we also feel that we are providing a valuable service to the consumer at one of the most stressful times in their life. When consumers are undergoing this experience, the last thing they want to do is apply for credit and fill out a credit application and then pay fifteen or twenty percent interest for the foreseeable future. Learn how Multiple Check can help with the cost of a funeral by downloading our free guide.